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Monthly Archives: September 2005

By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take anEnglish bride. His choice was Jamie, youngest daughter of Baron Jamison…a feisty, violet-eyed beauty. Alec ached to touch her, to tame her, to possess her…forever. But Jamie vowed never to surrender to this highland barbarian.

He was everything her heart warned against—an arrogant scoundrel whose rough good looks spoke of savage pleasures. And thought Kincaid’s scorching kisses fired her blood, she brazenly resisted him…until one rapturous moment quelled their clash of wills, and something far more dangerous than desire threatened to conquer her senses…

Wendy: Leslie Kelly’s She’s Got The Look is yet another offering from HQN that reads more like a bloated category than like the single title romance the line claims to publish.The book’s jacket copy would lead a reader to expect a romantic suspense, wherein the plot focuses on the men Melody Tanner chose for her “free pass” list—a list of men it’s ok for her to sleep with no questions asked—who begin to mysteriously and coincidentally turn up dead, leading Melody to fear for the number one man on the list: Nick Walker.This, however, is not the case.

HelenKay: Many romantic suspense reads suffer from an inability to combine those two main aspects with ease and in such a way that they can’t be separated without destroying one or the other. Not here. Extreme Exposure is a lesson in how to write a tight, sexy romance with a real-world, believable suspense story.

Before I get into reviewing Janelle Denison’s Too Wilde To Tame, I am declaring a new romance rule: no more characters named Wilde (Wyld, Wylde, and Wild are also unacceptable). The clever factor ceased to exist in 1980, give or take. Resist temptation. You will feel good about yourself later, I promise.

Thank you for your attention to this issue. Now on to Too Wilde to Tame.

We are thrilled that Kassia Krozser has chosen to join us here at Paperback Reader.As the voice of Booksquare, her look at the publishing industry is always insightful, witty, and spot on.We know she will bring that same thoughtful scrutiny to her book reviews.In Kassia we have found a kindred spirit, who shares, not only our love of romance, but our belief that critical analysis is vital to the genre.

Wendy: Nicole Jordan’s Wicked Fantasy, the third entry in the Paradise Series, introduces Antonia Maitland, a young heiress trying hard to curb her desire for adventure and follow her deceased father’s wishes that she marry a nobleman.When Trey Deverill, a member of the Guardians of the Sword, and a long time friend of Antonia’s father, receives an urgent message that suggests Samuel Maitland’s death was murder and Antonia’s life might be in danger as well, Deverill makes his way to London to protect the innocent and ferret out the truth.

HelenKay: Melanie Prescott – Mel to anyone who knows her – is a diehard Manhattanite with a passion for designer labels and solving puzzles.She’s also unemployed and on the run from an assassin who claims they’re playing a game and she’s the prey.No one bothered to tell Mel but she doesn’t have a choice but to join in when the bullets start flying and people she knows start dying.

Wendy: Gena Showalter’s Awaken Me Darkly is a brooding and murky futuristic that weaves suspense and romance throughout a sci-fi plot.When dark haired and dark eyed men begin to disappear in Chicago, Alien Investigation and Removal agent, Mia Snow, suspects the involvement of earth’s not-so-welcome visitors.When one of the missing men turns up dead, her suspicions are confirmed as all evidence points to the deadliest of the other-worlders, Arcadians.Mia and her partner, Dallas Gutierrez, set off to track down the murdering Arcadian before the clock runs out on the remaining missing men. But, just when their chief suspect, Lilla en Arr, is brought into custody, Dallas is wounded by gunplay and given zero chance to survive.As Dallas hangs on death’s precipice, Lilla’s brother, Kyrin en Arr, materializes with an offer for Mia: release Lilla and Kyrin will save Dallas’ life. It’s an offer Mia can neither accept nor decline, but one that propels her headlong into the case and into a deeper involvement with Kyrin.Each step toward uncovering the truth leads Mia into a labyrinth of fertility abuse and high-jacked human DNA.Human deaths litter the landscape both past and present in a quest to create a human Arcadian hybrid being.The clues point back to Kyrin, but Mia is plagued by the mysterious and oddly familiar Atlanna en Arr.